Thailand's Video Codec Market to Hit $7.9B by 2031 on 5G, OTT Growth

The rapid expansion of Thailand's video codec market signals increased demand for efficient content delivery infrastructure. Streaming services and other video-centric businesses operating in the region must prioritize codec adoption strategies to manage bandwidth costs and enhance user experience. The coming years will reveal which codecs gain dominant market share as 5G networks and local OTT platforms mature across Southeast Asia.

Thailand’s digital economy is undergoing a structural shift toward premium mobile video, with the 5G subscriber base and OTT revenues reaching record highs. Per True Corporation in August 2025, the telco’s 5G user base reached 14.7 million, a 25% year-over-year increase, supported by the rollout of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology to maximize bandwidth in high-density areas. This network modernization is essential as video now dominates Thai data consumption; per a 2025 PwC report, Thailand’s OTT video market is expected to grow 21% this year, reaching THB 33.8 billion. Competitive dynamics in the region are currently led by a mix of global and local giants. According to Media Partners Asia (MPA) in late 2025, Netflix and local platform TrueID controlled a combined 48% share of the 1.3 billion hours streamed in Thailand during 2024. While Netflix has been a primary driver of AV1 adoption—reporting that the codec accounts for 30% of its global viewing as of early 2026—local platforms face higher hurdles. External reporting from CSI Magazine in September 2025 highlights that while AV1 offers 30% compression gains over older standards, hardware support remains a challenge for the 75% of users on mid-to-low-tier handsets. To combat this, the Thai government is actively pushing its Smart City initiative, aiming to develop 45 smart cities by late 2024 to stimulate $1.7 billion in digital infrastructure investment. These public-sector moves in telehealth and urban surveillance are expected to further cement the necessity for high-efficiency codecs to manage massive real-time data flows without overwhelming existing network capacity.